A Great Truth on destructive Infighting 16 JUL 2013

A Great Truth on destructive Infighting: Discard the Spirit of Uncharitable Judgment instead of the weak & wounded. In the midst of all this conflict, bitterness, anger, and hatred is the voice of Christ giving a Great Truth: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye….First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.” MT 7:1-3, 5 . Christ’s humble approach of love rather than judgment has touched the hearts of Moslems & Jews; and caused some of them to follow his teachings. Unfortunately, many professing & labeling themselves Christians ignore this powerful teaching of Yahshua. Years ago, I wrote on how Christians kill their wounded, and the subject continues to weigh on my heart as I watch all the counterproductive judging. Often we condemn the weakness in others which we repress facing in ourselves. Instead of the love of Christ, we give people a critical judgmental spirit. Love bears all things, & does not impute evil. One large reason we are not to judge is that we are limited in what we see. We see the outside, not the motives in people’s hearts. Only God knows the hidden motives of the heart. (1 COR 4:4) Rather than create more conflict let’s remember, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil.” ROM 12:17 In fact, what a man sows that shall he reap…so judging others brings that on ourselves…while judging ourselves will do several positive things as well as make us too busy to judge others. . Examples abound of Moslems fighting Moslems, Jews vs. Jews, Christians destroying other Christians…the bitter infighting just creates more bitterness. Christ’s MT 7:1-6 teaching on not judging has touched the hearts of people caught in bitter infighting; it’s a practical teaching to build rather than tear down. . The bottom line is that our brother & the world in general are accountable to YHWH God, not to us. “Who are thou that judges the servant of another? To his own master he stands & falls…” ROM 14:4 (cf. ROM 14:13, JAS 4:12) Nor are we to be partial in how we judge men, for instance loving rich people and despising poor…or loving one race over another…that has consistently been taught against from LEV 19:15 thru 1 TIM 5:21 and up to JAS 2:4. Holy Spirit give us wisdom to apply Christ’s words. Are there limits on Yahshua’s MT 7:1-6 teaching? Other verses show we can form a judgment of a man’s character. Others show we can form judgments as to the validity of some teaching or doctrine. Other verses show that we should perform self-judgment & we should learn the state of our own hearts. We want to strip ourselves of the fault-finding spirit. Note Christ simply made a statement of fact at the last supper, “One of you is a devil…” We are to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered, which means we need to discern right from wrong. We are told to take every thought captive, to rejoice always & pray without ceasing, to do good to those who hate you, & to be completely humble & gentle. Those few things will keep us busy in themselves!! . Let’s boil the discussion down further to the essence…our adversary is testing us like he did Yahshua…and our test is to find ways to love our Creator God in the midst of evil. If we have a beam in our spiritual eyes, it will prevent the light of heaven from penetrating to our inner being. We must pull that beam out to understand the Spirit better. Rather than criticizing & complaining, we should pray to find a loving way to help alleviate the problems of others. Criticizing, complaining, condemning & judging hinder us, and we want to strip off all that hinders us spiritually. When we do, we can join Yahshua in saying, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Examining ourselves, we can be numbered with the transgressors (cf. ISA 53:9, 12) although in our case we deserve to be identified with sinners, Christ did not deserve it.